Jones-Buchanan gets up close to maverick Tomkins

While Steve McNamara was widely castigated for the lack of new faces in his latest England squad, the coach certainly had some fun with his rooming arrangements for the game against the Exiles.

For instance, can you imagine pitching the snarling Leeds Rhinos forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan with a certain Sam Tomkins?

A lot of opponents would like to lock up the effusive Wigan full-back and throw away the key, perhaps one way of negating his growing and persistent threat.

Many Leeds supporters would love the idea of their hardened second-row making Tomkins’s life miserable for once, maybe forcing him to use the teasmaid or manually turn over the TV set on constant request.

The memory of his heroics at Headingley earlier this season, when the 22-year-old inspired an unlikely last-minute fightback to earn the champions a point, are all too fresh.

There are others who simply do not like the entertaining Tomkins because he allegedly tries conning penalties out of referees and has a cocky swagger about him. How they would love Jones-Buchanan to bully him into submission.

However, the Leeds man did not take advantage of his situation to seek any retribution for previous misdemeanours and the odd couple got along just fine.

“I did room with him the night before the England v Exiles game,” Jones-Buchanan told the Yorkshire Post, ahead of his side’s trip to Wigan this evening,

“And we had a good chat. He is a guy who enjoys playing rugby when, in this day and age, the game can get a bit mechanical and methodical.

“Players often aren’t allowed to express themselves but he is a young lad who is a bit unorthodox the way he looks – maybe like Iestyn Harris in years gone by – and is not scared to do what he does.

“He’s very dangerous with his skill and when you are a professional player he is someone who demands a great deal of focus and attention.”

Leeds will know they can do that and they still might get hurt. Tomkins had been largely anonymous back in April when they led 22-4 – Jones-Buchanan among the try-scorers – against Wigan with just 15 minutes to go.

But then upped the devastating runner with a moment of individual flair to rally his jaded colleagues.

Soon after, he had helped create another two tries and then, with the last kick of the match, slotted a nerve-jangling penalty to level an absorbing contest.

“Our lads were really up for that game and we went pretty well for 65 minutes,” recalled Jones-Buchanan.

“We took our foot off the gas and they came back but even before that I think we should have been more ruthless and clinical so we were too far ahead for them to catch us.

“That’s a long time ago now though and we’re looking to go to Wigan doing all the little things right, looking after our own game and putting in a performance full of energy.”

It had been the latest of a long line of epic contests between the two great clubs with relationships having become fractious to say the least last year.

Leeds’s Jamie Peacock accused Thomas Leuluai and Mark Riddell of cowardice when they taunted Danny McGuire as he writhed on the ground with serious knee ligament damage in the 27-26 play-off win at the DW Stadium.

The Leeds stand-off would be out of action for almost nine months and it made for an interesting re-match when Wigan ventured to Headingley just two weeks later in another play-off.

This time it was the Warriors who proved their class and out-played Leeds to end their three-year domination of Super League, going on to win their own first championship since 1998, Tomkins typically to the fore.

They have not ceased in their defence of that title with last week’s 46-12 destruction of high-flying Huddersfield Giants a case in point.

It was the biggest loss Huddersfield had suffered since Nathan Brown took charge three years ago and an ominous warning for a Leeds side who have struggled for any sort of consistency this term.

With Rhinos down in sixth having endured a surprise home defeat to Bradford a week ago, they need an instant response.

Jones-Buchanan, 29, says: “We’ve not been great this year but with the quality and experience we have we know we can turn it around.

“I think there has been much more quality in the Super League this season and the points that separate us from the top group isn’t massive.

“I don’t think the Bradford result has any real bearing on this. It was a bizarre result – an anomaly – and not something we should be thinking about.

“If you don’t have all your players performing at eight, nine or 10 out of 10 you are in danger of getting beat.

“We’re fully aware of what Wigan can do if we’re not 100 per cent but we also know what we can achieve.”

For all the hyperbole surrounding Tomkins, who scored a scintillating hat-trick in that win over Huddersfield, Jones-Buchanan is quick to point out the influence of Leeds’s own magician – McGuire,

He returned to action over Easter and is slowly re-discovering his form, hoping to feature at Wigan after missing the Bradford game with a leg injury.

“Somebody like Danny McGuire is a big force in our team,” said his colleague.

“With someone like him in the side, he’s not just influential on his own but he influences other people around him.

“We’ve had some mishaps with injuries – him and Peacock being out injured for the start – and continuity which all affects the synergy and flow of things,” he said.

“But going forward it’s all about finishing well and coming together. That’s the aim.”